Michael Powell  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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Michael Latham Powell (30 September 1905 – 19 February 1990) was an English filmmaker, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger. Through their production company The Archers, they together wrote, produced and directed a series of classic British films, notably The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Canterbury Tale (1944), I Know Where I'm Going! (1945), A Matter of Life and Death (1946, also called Stairway to Heaven), Black Narcissus (1947), The Red Shoes (1948), and The Tales of Hoffmann (1951). His later controversial 1960 film Peeping Tom, while today considered a classic, and a contender as the first "slasher", was so vilified on first release that his career was seriously damaged.

Many filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and George A. Romero have cited Powell as an influence.<ref name="Crook"/> In 1981, he received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award along with his partner Pressburger, the highest honour the British Film Academy can give a filmmaker.

Early films

Many of his early films are disparagingly referred to as "quota quickies". Not all of them were really quota films, and the ones that were are often of a much higher standard than most other quota films. Some of his early films are now missing and are believed lost. But those that have survived often show some very sophisticated techniques and early versions of ideas that were reused, done better, in his later films. Those marked with an * are "Missing, believed lost".

Major films

Aside from some short films, Powell wrote, produced and directed all of his films from 1939 to 1957 with Emeric Pressburger

Television work

Powell also directed episodes of the TV series The Defenders, Espionage and The Nurses.

Non-directorial work

Powell was also involved in the following films in a non-directorial role:

• The Silver Fleet (1943) – Producer
• The End of the River (1947) – Producer
• Aila, pohjolan tytär (a.k.a. Arctic Fury) (1951) – Producer
• Sebastian (1968) – Producer
• Pavlova – A Woman for All Time (1983) – Associate Producer

Other works

Books by Michael Powell

• 1938: 200,000 Feet on Foula. London: Faber & Faber. (The story of the making of The Edge of the World was also reprinted as 200,000 Feet – The Edge of the World in the United States.)
• 1956: Graf Spee. London: Hodder & Stoughton. (This book contains much information that Powell and Pressburger could not include in their film The Battle of the River Plate.)
• 1957: Death in the South Atlantic: The Last Voyage of the Graf Spee. New York: Rinehart. (American edition of Graf Spee)
• 1975: A Waiting Game. London: Joseph. Template:ISBN.
• 1976: The Last Voyage of the Graf Spee. London: White Lion Publishers. Template:ISBN. (Second British edition of Graf Spee)
• 1978: (with Emeric Pressburger) The Red Shoes. London: Avon Books. Template:ISBN.
• 1986: A Life In Movies: An Autobiography. London: Heinemann. Template:ISBN.
• 1990: Edge of the World. London: Faber & Faber. Template:ISBN. (This book is a paperback edition of 200,000 feet on Foula.)
• 1992: Million Dollar Movie London: Heinemann. Template:ISBN. (This is the second part of Powell's autobiography.)
• 1994: (with Emeric Pressburger and Ian Christie) The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. London: Faber & Faber. Template:ISBN. (This book includes memos from Churchill and notes showing how the script developed.)

Many of these titles were also published in other countries or republished. The list above deals with initial publications except where the name was changed in a subsequent edition or printing.